Apparatus for cleaning potteries and the like



May 3 1927.

A. PARODI APPARATUS FOR CLEANING POTTERIES 'AND THE LIKE Filed April 7. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR. A.Pao ci,

A TTORNEYS.

May

A. PARODI 1 APPARATUS FOR CLEANING POTTERIES AND THE LIKE Filed April '7. 1 24 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I I ll/ IIIIIIlIIlIIIIII/n will [I 1 atfozmg Patented May 3, 1927.

UNITED"STATES acH'InLE 21130111, or GENQAQITALY.

APPARATUS FOR'CLEANING POTTERIIES Ann THE LIKE."

- Application filed April 7,

The present invention relates to. an apparatus for cleaning .potteries and-the. like, the operationoi said apparatus being-automate cally initiated through the inediumof the article to be cleaned, and the apparatus being-stopped when. the object cleaned "is removed from theapparatus. I i

The present invention haszfor its. object the:- provision of :an apparatus .constructed to be operated by the attendants of a shop, saidapparatus serving forthe-pertect cleaning of potteries .sothat-the samearesagain placed in condition for. immediate use."

. According. .to the present.inventionnthe cleaning operation'is executedLby meansot ll'ltGI'llfilwbI'llShGS, and of external brushes acting on the article to be.--cleaned; .said brushes movingat a greatspeed .andfn'ictioning as much as possiblelon.the internal and external surtaces-otthe iarticle itself;

while at the same time. suitable. jets. of water or other liquid are forcibly sprinkled against said surfaces for the purpose of. removing alllthe dirty lnaterial, the water or suitable liquid aforesaid beingthen drained off from the apparatus without material. damage thereto. 1

For the purpose ;.of operating the 1 whole mechanism it is only necessary to insert the object inan inverted position into; the apparatus and pushingthe samevdow'nwardly until the inner surface of 'the'bottom contacts with the upper end of a central pipe provided with suitable holes for the sprinkling-of -the cleaning liquid andby continuing the movement of the object itself towards the bottom to consequently displace said central. pipe. This displacing has for its object the establishing of an electric' contact and of opening a valve for'admitting the cleaning. liquid. The electric contact. effects operation of a suitablemotor which causes the turning of said brushes, andthe valve opens so that the water or other suitable liquid can. then enter under a high pressure withinthe centralpipe as wellias within other appropriate lateral pipes, said. water or liquid being strongly and abundantly sprinkled through suitable holes. against the surfaces to be cleaned. a

In the annexed sheet of drawings. there has been diagrammatically represented; by way of -example,. a practical embodiment: of the invention..

1924. Serial No. 704,869.-

lnisaid drawings:

Fig-4.1 shows a vertical. longitudina l section of the apparatusg Fig. 1 shows a vertical longitudinal sed apparatus: along. the line II-'IIot Fig.1, the brushes and the object to be cleaned being removed Fig 3 shows an ienlargedwfragmentary vertical sectional detail-of the water admisv ably of transparent material the upper end being 1 opened, said chamber being supported onthe lowerl closed chamber 2 of thevsame material; A partition iplate' 3 acts as a :cover forthe lower chamber and as a bottom for the upper chamber. A central pipe 4 isiprovidedin its. upper part-withan appropriate -cap;:5 perforatedinits. upper-"end by one'=or more holes 6 :and' on which cap ,the sobzject 17 comes to rest (in the embodiment illustrated in the drawing said object is represented by a glass) it beingnnderstood that theuobject -;1s introducedthrough. the opening 8 located in the upper part1 of the casing; Said pipe 4' whlch is provided in its upper end with other liquid sprinkling holes 6 extends almost the height of the apparatus and'at its .lowerendrests upon a spiralifspring :9

which'normally maintains said. pipe: inv a raised position. Around the lower part of thepipe there is placed a sleevelO within which said pipe may be freely displaced in an axial direction. To-thissleeveithere is fixed by means of pressing screws 11 the l1ub-ofa spider. the horizontal armsof which12 are; arranged for-the ifixation otthe F external and internal standards: -13- and .114

respectively bearing the brushes 15 andv116 respectively. Thehub of the spiderisalso provided with anotherisleevezl'l extending upwardly and entering. into'a .deep groove providedon a collar 18 suitably fixedto said pipe 4.

The sleeve 110 extends beneath. the plate andzis provided at its :lower end with aball 'bearingcdeviice 19 which allowswasrapid ro- .tation of "said sleeve; The rotationis-imparted to-sa-id sleeve IO- by meansofa pa ir the spider of intermeshing bevel gears which are operated by an appropriate electric motor 21. Around the central hole ofthe plate 3, through which the sleeve 10 passes, there'ls arranged a collar 22 extending into a recess located in the lower part of the hub of 12; said recess beingformed bya circular rib 23 depending from the hub.

The central pipe 4 is substantially S- shaped and has a portion 24 horizontally dis: posed in such a way that the end portion opposite the cap is disposed in a vertical direction, that is, parallel to themain vertical portion of the pipe 4. Depending from said pipe portion 24 is an -.actuating element for. an electric interrupter 25 positioned on the bot tom of the lower chamber designed to normally maintain the supply circuit ofthe motor 21 open, but, when the pipe 4 is pushed downwardly, said actuating element closes the circuit in such a way as tostart the electric motor.' Thevertical portion 26 of said pipe extends into a suitable box 27 in which there is placed the admission valve of the liquid serving to facilitate the cleaning operation of the object introduced into the apparatus. Said valve comprises a metallic plate 28 which by means of a suitable pin connection 29 may be displaced up and down by the action of the pipe 26; said plate pressing a packing 31 against an internal wall 30 of the box aforesaid, said packing 31 preferably in the form of a resilient layer or any other suitable material. When the pipe section 26 is lowered, and with it also the plate 28 and the packing 31 there is exposed a hole 32 in the internal wall 30 of thebox,and, on account of the fact that the pipe section 26 is also provided wit-h similar holes 33, when the said pipe section is lowered the holes 32 and 33 registered with one another in such a way as to 'allowthe water or other suitable liquid introduced: by the external pipe 34 to pass in the inner part of the pipe 26 and thence flows through the entire length of the pipe 4 and is discharged through the holes 6 in the upper part of said pipe 4. At the point where the pipe 4 enters the box 27 there is arranged a suitable chamber 39 adapted to collect the eventual dripping of liquid from said box; said liquid being discharged out of the apparatus by means of a suitablepipe thus avoiding any dam age in the mechanisms of the apparatus, said damage being occasioned by the wetting or deterioration of saidliquid. The box 27 is provided in each of itslateral walls with a hole. 35 to which are connected respectively two pipes 36 and 37 which pass through the plate 3 in the points indicated in Fig. 2 and are arranged in a vertical direction along the wall of the casing and externally of the object'to be cleaned. The pipes 36 and 37 are provided With aplurality of little" holes which face the object to be cleaned. When the pipe 26 is lowered on the pipe 4 owing to thepressure of the object to be cleaned, the holes 32, as it has previously stated, are made clearand the water or other liquid flowing to the box 27 by means of the pipe 34, enters into thepipe 26 throughthe holes 33. All of the water or other fluid entering the valve chamberdoes not pass through the pipe 26 and the. excess accumulates within the chamber 27 and subsequently passes through the holes 35 into the pipes 36 and 37 and is discharged in theform of jets through the aforesaidholes, in the vertical'portion of the said pipes, so that the liquid is sprinkled against the external. Walls ofthe'obj'ect to becleaned thus contributing to thewashing ofthe said. external walls. Suitable holes 38, finally, are disposed-on the plate 3, said holes being connected. to appropriated discharging pipes (not shown'in the drawings) which allow the discharge of the water or other liquid. which has served for the cleaning operation. .Thatsection ofthe casing which contains the brushes and the sprinkling pipes maybe constructed of glass or other suitable transparent material in such away as to render visible the cleaning operation from the exterior of the apparatus. The sleeve 17 and the groove 18 andthe collar 22 0f the plate 3 have for their purpose toprevent the cleaning water frompassing formed I declare that what I claim is:

1. An. apparatus of the character described including a casing embodying a lower closed chamber and an upper open chamber, a tubular shaft mounted vertically in the two chambers, a brush support carried with the shaft and positioned in the upper chamber, means in the lower chamber for rotating the-shaft, valved liquid supply means located in the lower chamber, a pipe including a vertical portion slidably mounted through the shaft and projected into the upper part of the upper chamber and having a horizontal portion continuing from the verticalportion and arranged through the lower chamber and a vertical lower portion continuing from the horizontal portion and forming resilient means for holding the plpe in an elevated and closed position, the pipe being adapted .to move downwardly upon the "insertion of an object to be cleaned to actuate part of the valve supply means,

the valve supply means to allow liquid to pass through the pipe and to be directed against the inserted object, means for controlling the rotation of the shaft, and means carried with the horizontal portion of the pipe and coacting with the a controlling means for rotating the shaft simultaneously with the depression of the pipe so that the brush support will be rotated while the liquid is being directed against the inserted object.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein other brushes are positioned about the upper vertical portion of the pipe above the shaft and coact with the brush support and the inserted object to facilitate the cleaning of the latter.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1,

wherein means is mounted on the upper vertical portion of the pipe for cooperating with the upper edges of the shaft for preventing the passage of liquid into the shaft during operation of the apparatus.

4:. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1,'

wherein a sleeve is mounted in spaced relation about the shaft and extends upwardly therefrom, and a collar mounted on the upper part of the pipe above the sleeve and provided with a relatively deep annular 7 ACHILLE PARODI. 

